At a recent meeting following the 13th Ministerial Conference (MC13), participants of the Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform (FFSR) initiative advanced their work plan for the year. Ambassador Clare Kelly of New Zealand, coordinator of the FFSR initiative, emphasized the direction set by MC13: “The MC13 Ministerial Statement and its associated work programme has set out a clear direction for the work of the initiative under its three pillars and related action steps,” she stated. “This will be the focus of our work this year.”
The three pillars guiding this effort are: enhancing transparency through existing WTO mechanisms, sharing experiences and developing guidelines for temporary crisis support measures, and identifying harmful fossil fuel subsidies to build understanding and support for reform.
Under the first pillar, members discussed how to implement sample questions annexed to the MC13 Ministerial Statement in WTO Trade Policy Reviews to promote transparency on fossil fuel subsidies. They also received a briefing from the WTO Secretariat on mechanisms and information sources related to fossil fuel subsidies. Additionally, there were discussions on increasing input from business and civil society stakeholders.
For the second pillar, members shared experiences in targeting support measures and phasing out energy crisis interventions. They contributed to an information paper aimed at helping develop guidelines ensuring future crisis measures remain transparent, targeted, and temporary.
Regarding the third pillar, expert stakeholders presented analyses on various categories of fossil fuel subsidies and potential reform pathways. Notable presentations included insights from recent case studies by the World Bank's ESMAP Energy Subsidy Reform Facility.
The next meeting is scheduled before the summer break. More details about the FFSR initiative can be found here.